There were 75,320 sale and purchase agreements for all types of building units registered in the first half of the year, the Land Registry says, up 18.6% on the same period last year and down 8.4% on the second half of 2007.

The total amount of consideration involved in these agreements was $288.73 billion, up 35.1% on the same period last year but down 7.4% on the second half of 2007.

The year's first half saw 100,429 assignments of building units lodged for registration, up 40.7% on the same period last year and 15.5% on the second half of 2007.

The total consideration totalled $356.64 billion, up 84.6% on the same period last year and 28.3% on the second half of 2007.

There were 2,604,881 searches for land records, up 19.7% on the same period last year and 0.8% on the second half of 2007.